Latvian Finance Ministry increases government debt outlook

Finance Ministry has decided to increase the government debt outlook in Latvia’s Stability programme 2017-2020 for the current and future years.

In last year’s stability programme, the ministry predicted the government debt to be at 38.3% of GDP for 2017. Most recent estimates, however, suggest the government debt may be 0.9 percentage points higher than that – 39.2% of GDP.

The previous estimate for the government debt for 2018 was 37.5% of GDP. New estimates suggest the debt may be 38.2% of GDP.

Also, if the government debt for 2019 was previously estimated at 38.2% of GDP, current estimates suggest it may be 1.2 percentage points higher – 39.4% of GDP.

Finance Ministry explains that the government debt outlook for 2017-2020 has been increased in comparison with 2016-2019 stability programme, considering topical financial balance, fiscal space and budget’s available financial resources, new political priorities in the finance field, as well as new economic development predictions.